The Open Society Institute and the European Commission DG for Education and Culture are organising a photography exhibition that will feature a selection of photographs from Chachipe Youth, an international photography contest for young people between the ages of 12 and 25, which was launched in 2008.

The exhibition will be opened by Karel Bartak, head of the Communication and Valorisation Unit of DG Education and Culture, Bernard Rorke, director of Roma initiatives at Open Society Institute, and Prof. Ian Hancock, director of the Program of Romani Studies at University of Texas.

The exposition is curated by Gabriella Csizek and it will be on display in the Madou Atrium from 12 to 28 May, 2010. 

In 2007, the Open Society Institute and OSA Archivum organized an online photography contest entitled Chachipe (Chachipe means truth, reality or right in Romanes) under the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015.

The contest aimed to help combat visual stereotypes associated with Roma, the largest ethnic minority in Europe, by presenting them and their culture sensitively and artistically.

Following the success of Chachipe, a second contest, Chachipe Youth, was announced in November 2008. This contest was open to young people between the ages of 12 and 25 who had taken photos of Roma and their lives since the beginning of 2005 in any of the Decade countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain.

The contest invited young people to use photography to present how they see Roma and their lives, and it had three categories: “My Street, My Neighborhood,” "My Colorful Life," and "What Is Wrong?"

For more information, visit the Chachipe Exhibition website.